New Partnership Looks at Flood Resilience

More research into the impact of flooding worldwide can only be a good thing. Learning lessons from other countries and how flood events unfold might offer clues to prepping for storms in the UK. So might clearing drains, pausing housing development on greenfield sites and building more reservoirs. Here’s the word on a new research partnerhip;

UK-based flood science specialist JBA Risk Management and Oxford University have entered a partnership to research the risks from climate extremes on infrastructure networks worldwide.

The Oxford Programme for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (OPSIS), led by Jim Hall, Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks and a Commissioner on the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission, will be provided with full access to JBA’s global flood maps and global event sets. In collaboration with JBA’s team of experts, the Oxford team will generate new insights into present day and future infrastructure risk. This will help vulnerable countries enhance the resilience of their infrastructure networks and improve disaster preparedness, thereby protecting people against the social and economic shocks of climate change.

The tie-up is the latest in a long line of collaborations between JBA and Oxford University. Ongoing work includes a research project looking at event footprints, led by Dr Raghav Pant, which was funded by the UK Data and Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure (DAFNI). Another was a study to quantify the impact of present and future climate extremes on the national water supply network in Jamaica. In addition, JBA has previously collaborated with Oxford on the Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium and a high profile study on the influence of climate change on extreme flood events in the UK, as well as supporting Prof Louise Slater’s prestigious 7-year Future Leaders Fellowship to provide an holistic insight to changing flood risk.

Dr Paul Young, Head of Academic Partnerships, JBA Risk Management commented:

“We have a strong track record of working closely with academia and I am excited that we can support and collaborate with OPSIS in their important work understanding the resilience of key infrastructure networks and how that will be impacted by climate change.”

Prof Jim Hall, Infrastructure Systems lead and Professor of Climate and Environmental Risk at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford, added:

“Adapting the nation’s infrastructure to climate change requires precise information on where flooding could occur in Britain. JBA’s flood data is enabling us to improve our climate change risk assessment for critical infrastructure.”